Not Gonna Get Us
by ravenrulz-224
Summary: After Gaara died and came back to life, he, Kankuro, and Temari grew closer then ever. rated T for language. NO SANDCEST! Also, this doesn't have to do with the T.A.T.U song.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, there would be a lot more appearances by the Sand Shinobi.

Chapter 1:

Temari and Kankuro walked quickly in front of the rest of their group. Elder Ebizo had instructed them to "take a break" by walking for a bit instead of running, because everyone else was worn out. Kankuro and Temari were walking as fast as they could without running.

"Dammit!" Temari muttered, "When can we start moving quickly again? I can't stand this!"

Kankuro sighed and glanced behind him at the rest of the group, "Hopefully soon."

Temari glanced behind her as well. The group did look completely worn out. Temari abd Kankuro had been pushing them to move as quickly as physically possible, and even that wasn't fast enough. Normally, Temari would feel bad, but her little brother was in danger, there was no time to feel sorry for people.

While Temari was lost in thought, Kankuto nudged her.

"What?" she asked.

He pointed to a spot in front of him where she saw a group of people. She recognized them as Team Gai and Team Kakashi. If they were there that meant that Gaara-

"Let's go!" She ordered Kankuro.

He didn't need to be told twice. The two of them took off as fast as they could, despite the protests of the group behind them. Since Kankuro's legs were longer, he made it to the scene first. He immediately went to where his brother lay on the ground next to Naruto. He was obviously unconscious or something, but he was alive and that's all that mattered. Temari showed up minutes later and stood next to TenTen while Kankuro stood next to Gaara.

"What happened to him?" Temari asked TenTen.

"Well," TenTen said hesitantly, "The Akatsuki removed the demon."

"Shakaku's gone?" Temari asked, "How is that possible?"

"Temari," TenTen said gently, "This is going to sound really weird, but Gaara… He died."

"What?" Temari asked, confused. She glanced at the red-head that was laying only a few feet from her. He was unconscious, but obviously still breathing.

"Gaara died," TenTen explained, "Elder Chiyo just performed this jutsu that brought him back to life."

Temari could feel the color drain from her face as what TenTen said sunk in. Her brother had died while she had done nothing but sit in the village waiting for an attack that never came.

TenTen looked worried, "Will you be okay? I know that's a lot to handle, but he's fine now."

Temari took a deep breath and nodded, plastering a fake smile on her face, "I'm fine."

'There's no use in freaking out now. All that will accomplish is making everyone else freak out,' She thought.

She walked over to her brothers and kneeled next to Gaara to make sure he really was breathing. The rest of the group that Temari and Kankuro were traveling with finally arrived. Soon after they came, the other groups that were sent out of the village to "rescue" Gaara showed up. Temari glanced at Gaara's old student Matsuri. She had been in her group. Gaara had done a great job turning her into a shin obi. She had graduated and become a chuunin, and she had the vest to prove it. All of the groups crouded around Gaara anxiously.

Kankuro leaned in to Temari, "Jeez, like, half of Suna is here!"

Temari looked around and smiled. Her smile soon faded when she realized that one person was missing.

"Where's Baki?" She asked.

"Baki-sama stayed behind to lead the watches for attackers," one ninja informed her.

"Oh," She said flatly.

Temari glanced at Kankuro and could tell he was thinking the same thing as her, why the hell was Baki staying in Suna, when the kid who was practically his son was in mortal danger?

They didn't have much time to think about it however, because Gaara stirred. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up slowly. He looked around at everyone, very confused.

"They're…" He started to say, looking at the mass of people around him.

"Everyone ran here to come save you!" Naruto explained, grinning at him.

Matsuri pushed to the front of the crowd, "Gaara-sama! Are you okay!?"

He nodded slowly, still looking very confused.

She grinned, and cheered, "YES!"

Everyone started cheering and celebrating that the Kazekage was alive.

Naruto smiled, "You caused a big fuss."

"I'll say!" Kankuro stated, stpping in closer to Gaara, "You had me worried little brother."

He was happy to see that his brother was functioning… well, at least slightly.

Temari smirked, "Who do you two think you are? Gaara IS the Kazekage! Show some respect you lowlifes!" She then proceded to shove Naruto out of the way so she could get closer to Gaara, "Gaara, how do you feel?"

He looked confused still, but not so much that he didn't try to stand up.

"You shouldn't start moving around yet!" Temari told him, "Your body's still very stiff."

Kankuro smiled as Temari hovered over her youngest brother. Only days ago, she was doing the same thing with him. Hell, she was still hovering over him, she was just distracted at the moment. He diverted his attention to Matsuri and her friend who were totally drooling over Gaara. He laughed as his sister attempted to keep the two girls away from the still confused and groggy Gaara.

A voice next to him grumbled, "That's right. I'm still a genin."

He glanced next to him at Naruto who was sitting on the ground. He knelt next to him and grinned, "Don't let it get you down. The girls who drool over the 'cool elite' guys are always the weakest ones. That's how it goes."

Kankuro knew this wasn't true, but it always made him feel better to say that to himself when girls were drooling over his younger brother.

"Yeah, I think Shikamaru told me something like that once too." Naruto shrugged.

Kankuro glanced back at Gaara. He was alive. He had known if anyone was going to save him, it was Naruto. Even though Naruto and Gaara had only seen each other three times before Naruto had left for training, they were closer then he's ever seen two friends. It was actually thanks to Naruto that Kankuro had even gotten as close as he was to Gaara. He thought back to when he and Gaara had been talking about Naruto: "He felt the same suffering I did, and he taught me that I can change the path I want life to take," Gaara had told him, "He has people who need him. Someday, I want people to need me too."

Kankuro looked back at Naruto and said, "Thank you, Naruto."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "You should thank the old lady over there, not me. She saved Gaara with some kind of medical ninjustsu. She's passed out now, but she'll come around when we get back to the village-"

Kankuro shook his head, "No, you're wrong."

He looked over to where Sakura held the dead Elder Chiyo. 'Elder Chiyo used that technique.' he thought. If Elder Chiyo had to use that technique, that meant Gaara had-

"I'm wrong? About what?" Naruto asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"It wasn't a medical ninjustsu," Kankuro explained, "It was a life-transferring technique. Elder Chiyo is dead."

The whole crowd fell silent as he said this. Even the two drooling girls stopped pushing to talk to Gaara and listened to Kankuro.

"Life-transferring technique?" TenTen asked confused.

"W-what do you mean?" Naruto asked.

Kankuro sighed, "A ninjutsu that allows you to bring back the dead in exchange for your own life."

"No way!" TenTen gasped.

The whole groups focus was on him.

"Many years ago," Kankuro began, "The Puppet Brigades were conducting research on how to bring their puppets to life. Elder Chiyo was in charge of it. They were able to figure out the theory behind it, but… in the midst of their research, they decided it was too risky. They made it illegal to conduct the research on humans and forbade anyone to use that technique."

Naruto stood up and looked at Elder Chiyo's body with shock. Temari knew how he felt. She had heard the people at the Jonin meetings talk about how Chiyo was a crabby old lady who didn't give a damn about anything.

"Naruto, you really are a strange person, "She commented, "You have the power to change people. Elder Chiyo was always saying how she didn't care what happened what happened to the Village. She wasn't the type of person who would do this for Gaara."

She glanced down at her brother. Yep. Still breathing.

"Elder Chiyo has placed the future in yours and Gaara's hands," She heard Kakashi tell Naruto, "A splendid end befitting a true shinobi."

Temari looked towards Elder Chiyo. She felt bad that she died. She really did. But if she were still alive, Gaara would still be dead. Temari couldn't even begin to imagine what would've happened if Gaara hadn't woken up.

Suddenly she heard Matsuri exclaim, "Gaara-sama!"

She turned quickly to see Gaara attempting to stand again. Matsuri tried to help him, but Gaara pushed her away.

"I'm fine!" He insisted.

Temari and Kankuro were about to go help him, but they noticed Naruto walk over to him and relaxed slightly. He'd take care of Gaara. They watched as Gaara got himself about halfway to a standing position before stumbling. Naruto grabbed his arm discreetly so as not to cause a scene and helped him into a standing position.

Temari and Kankuro glanced at each other and smiled. Naruto knew just how to handle any situation with Gaara.

Gaara looked down at the woman who had given her life to save his, "Everyone, pray for Elder Chiyo."

Everyone closed their eyes and prayed silently. When they had finished, they all decided that they should get back to Suna to let the other villagers know that the Kazekage was alive.

A/N: Alright everyone. Chapter one is done. I promise the whole story isn't going to me using lines from the episodes. I hope you enjoyed! Review please!!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey everyone

A/N: Hey everyone! Chapter two is here!! I only have one thing to request before you read this chapter… PLEASE REVIEW! Review if you love it; review if you hate it, just review. Thanks!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.

Chapter 2:

As they began to leave for the village, Gaara attempted to walk by himself. After a few steps, however, he stumbled. Kankuro and Naruto were there immediately to support him.

"Thanks," Gaara muttered.

"No problem!" Naruto grinned.

Gaara looked around at the rest of the group, "Is everybody else alright?"

"Yeah," Kankuro grinned, "We had a few mishaps, but everyone's fine."

"What were the mishaps?" Gaara asked.

Kankuro shot a look to Naruto that said 'If you tell him what happened to me, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

"Uh, well, Sakura got pretty hurt, but she managed to basically heal herself. Kakashi-sensei is all worn out from using the sharingan, but he'll be fine, and uh, I think that's it!" Naruto explained.

"Oh no," Temari said from behind them, "You're missing someone."

Kankuro winced. She wouldn't be affected by his glare. Plus, there was nothing he could do to stop her.

"Kankuro almost got himself killed," Temari informed Gaara.

Gaara's eyes widened, "What?!"

Kankuro grinned sheepishly, "It really wasn't that big a deal. You know our sister. She over reacts!"

"No, this isn't over reacting. You're the only idiot I know who would go after two akatsuki members by himself," Temari stated.

"What? Kankuro, what the hell were you thinking?" Gaara asked.

Kankuro sighed, "I was thinking about how I needed to get you back."

"You couldn't have brought someone with you?"

"We had a squad that was going to come with me, but most of them died in an explosion that went off in the main entrance to the Village," Kankuro explained.

"Most of them?" Gaara asked, "What about the rest of them?"

"I was able to fit two guys into the Salamander with me at the last minute, but they were still pretty badly hurt. I had Baki take them to the hospital and took off so as not to waste any time," Kankuro told him.

Gaara sighed, "Well what happened to you? Are you alright?"

"Oh, not much happened-"

"He was pretty badly poisoned. He only had about a day and a half to live when we got to him," Sakura explained.

Gaara glared at Kankuro, "You're a fucking moron. You know that?"

"You were in danger. My brotherly instincts kicked in," Kankuro shrugged.

"I would've been fine-" Gaara began to say.

"Obviously not." Kankuro told him, "Dude, you died."

Gaara fell silent. There wasn't anything he could retaliate with.

"I'll check you over as soon as we get back," Sakura told Gaara, "Then I'll check Kankuro over again to make sure the antidote's not causing some sort of reaction."

"You might want to check Naruto over too," Kakashi mentioned.

"Why?" Gaara and Sakura both asked at once.

"While Naruto and I were fighting the akatsuki member together, he began to transform into the nine-tailed fox." Kakashi explained.

"What?! Why?" Gaara asked.

"I was, uh, kinda pissed off because he was being an ass-hole and you were dead and I only made it to two tails!" Naruto told him.

"Oh, well, that's a relief!" Gaara said sarcastically.

"I'm fine, I swear," Naruto promised, "My chakra's a little low, but I'm not hurt."

"Well you could've gotten hurt," Gaara told him, "In fact, you could've gotten yourself killed."

"But I didn't, so…"

"No. You're not getting off the hook that easy," Sakura told him, "Wasn't that the jutsu Master Jiraiya told you not to use?"

"It's not like I could control it! I was mad. The more pissed off I get, the harder it is to control," Naruto informed them.

"That's still no excuse," Gaara told him, "You should've at least attempted to calm down."

Naruto glanced at him, "Okay, let me ask you a hypothetical question: Your best friend is kidnapped by this very powerful group of ninja, who have no second thoughts about killing people. When you get to the village where your friend lives, you have to wait another night so you can catch up on sleep, even though you know there's no time to waste. When you finally find the ninja that took your friend, you realize he's dead, and one bastard won't even give you back the body. After chasing the ass-hole, he disrespects, you, your sensei, and your dead friend. Now tell me, would you be able to calm 'down'?"

"Completely different situation," Gaara told him, "You weren't the one in danger."

"It's not a completely different situation! It's the exact same thing!" Naruto exclaimed, "You would've done the exact same thing as me and freak out!"

"Not the point," Gaara repeated.

"Whatever," Naruto shrugged.

Gaara glanced back at his sister, "Are you alright?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine." Temari told him.

"Good," Gaara breathed a sigh of relief. That was one less person to worry about.

"What about you? How are you feeling? Do you want to take a break?" Temari asked him.

"I'm fine, Tem," He promised her, "In fact I think I can walk th rest of the way home."

"Uh, no," Temari told him, "You're hurt! You can't-"

"I'm fine, really," Gaara interrupted, "Kankuro, Naruto, let go of me."

"G, I don't think that's a good idea," Kankuro said uncertainly.

"Will you quit hovering? I can handle myself," Gaara insisted.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, "I mean, you've said that before and you wound dead."

Gaara sighed in frustration, "I'm fine. At least let me try."

Kankuro and Naruto exchanged an uneasy glance. This couldn't go well. They cautiously let go of him and followed close behind as he started walking. Gaara only made it a few steps before his knees gave out on him. Kankuro and Naruto were there to help him instantly.

"Told you it wouldn't go well," Kankuro stated as he and Naruto helped Gaara up again.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard yet," Temari told him, looking worried, "Are you alright?"

Gaara noddd, "Yeah."

She didn't look convinced, but didn't bother asking him again. She knew he'd just give her the same answer weather he was okay or not.

"You're body's still in shock," Sakura explained, "That, and you're pretty banged up. Walking will take some getting used to."

Gaara sighed, "Great."

"Are you sure you don't want to stop for a break?" Temari asked again.

"Would it make you feel better if I said yes?" Gaara asked.

She nodded and he sighed, "Fine."

"Actually, it's starting to get dark. Let's stay here for th night. We'll get going early tomorrow," Kankuro suggested.

"Sounds good," Temari agreed, ""I am getting pretty tired. All my adrenaline from earlier has worn off."

Kankuro nodded, "Alright. Who wants first watch?"

"I'll do it," Naruto offered.

"Whay bother?" Gaara asked, "I can't sleep anyways. I'll do it."

"Gaara, Shakau's gone, remember? The akatsuki removed him," Naruto reminded him, "Get some sleep."

"Yeah," Temari nodded, "You need it."

"Oh yeah," Gaara stated, "I almost forgot about that."

"Get some sleep," Naruto repeated.

"Fine," Gaara said eventually, "But wake me up for the next watch."

"No. You're going to get as much sleep as possible. You need to get your strength back," Sakura told him.

Gaara shrugged, "It's not like I'm not used to getting only a few hours of sleep here and there."

They all argued with him for a little bit about weather or not he should take second watch. Eventually, Gaara won. Naruto sat a little ways off from the group as everyone started to fall asleep. After everybody had basically fallen asleep, Kankuro walked over to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto, if Gaara's not already awake by the time his watch comes, wake me up. He needs his sleep," Kankuro told him.

Naruto grinned, "Alright. Will do."

A/N: Chapter two is done! I told you it wouldn't all be from the episodes. Next chapters are coming up, so review please!!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hello one and all! I have successfully returned from the dead to present you with another chapter of Not Gonna Get Us! The fact that I just discovered Naruto Shippuden was finally in English may have had something to do with it. ^^ To those who have read this while it was in notebook form, you may notice some changes. Since I wrote this so long ago, I figured that it kind of needed a revamp. I hope you all enjoy!

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About an hour later, Naruto shook Kankuro awake.

"Gaara's still asleep," he whispered, "So you're taking the next shift."

"Alright," Kankuro mumbled groggily as he woke himself up.

"I think the shift after yours is Temari," Naruto informed him as he began walking over to his sleeping bag next to In between Sakura and Kakashi.

"Ok, thanks," Kankuro grunted. He was still attempting to get himself to wake up. Since Gaara had been kidnapped, sleep had not come easy to him. This had been the first night he had slept peacefully and even had a dream sequence. It was an odd dream, (something about Baki doing an ostrich mating dance) but a dream none the less.

"G'Night." He grunted as he settled into his sleeping bag. He gave one last, loud yawn and started drifting asleep.

Kankuro carefully got out of his sleeping bag, so as not to wake anyone around him, and began to walk around the camp a little bit to wake himself up. After he was sure he wasn't going to fall asleep, he sat back down on his sleeping bag, which was next to Gaara on one side and Lee on the other. Temari was on the other side of Gaara so he could tell she was getting one of her first peaceful nights of sleep in days as well. And the fact that Gaara was even able to sleep at all was a good thing. After what he had been through, he needed it.

Kankuro thought back to the past week's events and breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over. Gaara was back and, after some time, would be back to himself. Temari, thankfully, had remained completely safe. Naruto was finally back from training, so he and Gaara could bond together. The last thing on the list of good news was that the Akatsuki was now weakened by two members*.

Kankuro looked around the camp at everyone sleeping. His gaze happened to fall on Sakura first, as she was almost directly across from him. He was impressed at how she (along with Elder Chiyo) was able to take out Sasori of the Red Sand. The reason she wasn't a jonin yet was beyond him. Hell, he was a jonin and he hadn't been able to take the bastard down. _Maybe if I had, none of this would've happened_, he thought to himself, _I can't believe I wasn't even able to protect my own brother!_

As if on cue, Gaara started to stir. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking around. When he saw Kankuro, he asked, "What are you doing up?"

"Naruto and I made the decision that you needed your sleep, so I took your shift." Kankuro explained.

"Well, I'm up now," Gaara told him, "You can go back to sleep."

"Nah," Kankuro shrugged, "I probably won't be able to fall back asleep now that I'm up."

"Good," Gaara stated, "Now I get to yell at you some more. What on Earth would compel you to go after two members of the Akatsuki by yourself? Especially when one of them had just taken down the Kazekage?"

"I told you already: My brotherly instincts kicked in." Kankuro repeated, "I would have done the exact same thing if Tem was in danger."

"If it was Temari in danger, I would have been there with you to back you up. You wouldn't have been alone." Gaara reminded him.

"Gaara, what would you have liked me to do?" Kankuro asked, "Just sit around and twiddle my thumbs while my brother was dying?"

"If it would have kept you safe, then yes." Gaara answered.

"So you're telling me that if someone you cared about was in danger, you would just sit around and keep yourself safe?" Kankuro asked defensively.

"Of coarse not! I'm trying to tell you you could have handled it more logically! Kankuro, you almost died!"

"Gaara, you did!"

"Better me then you!" Gaara told him angrily.

Kankuro's eyes widened, "Don't ever say that. You're the goddamned Kazekage. Your life is worth a hundred times more then mine."

"Bullshit! Kankuro, you're a highly skilled ninja-"

"Obviously not skilled enough!" Kankuro interrupted, "I wasn't able to do anything to help you. Maybe if I had just been a little stronger, I could have been of some use."

Gaara just shook his head, "Don't even try to blame yourself for this."

Kankuro ignored him and continued, "Because of me, everybody had to stay behind an extra day, delaying finding you. If I had just been strong enough to defeat Sasori, we would've gotten to you sooner and you wouldn't have died."

"Kankuro, I don't think being stronger would've helped. They were able to take me and half the guards out." Gaara told him.

Again, Kankuro seemed not to be listening and continued, "He was another puppet master for god's sake! I should've been able to predict what he was going to do!"

"Another puppet master?" Gaara asked.

Kankuro sighed and nodded, "The very same puppet master who built the Crow, Black Ant and Salamander. "

"You fought against the guy who built your weapons? Kankuro, what were you thinking?"

Kankuro sighed, "Not skill level or anything. All I was focused on was getting you back to the village where you'd be safe."

Gaara shook his head, "You sure went through a lot of trouble just to get your Kazekage back."

"Nope." Kankuro stated.

Gaara looked confused so Kankuro continued, "I went through a lot of trouble to get my brother back."

Then, from her sleeping bag, Temari stirred. She sat up and glanced at her brothers. "What are you two doing up?"

"I was supposed to take watch, but Kankuro had Naruto wake him up instead. I ended up waking up on my own, and neither of us were tired enough to go back to sleep." Gaara explained.

"You should both at least try to get some sleep. Kankuro, I know you haven't been getting any these past few days, and Gaara, you need it. I can take watch. It's my turn anyways." Temari told them.

"Tem, we're both wide awake." Kankuro shrugged, "You can go back to sleep if you want."

"I'm fine. You two really should-"

Gaara interrupted her, "We're okay, Temari. Really."

Temari sighed in defeat when she realized there was nothing she could do to win this battle. Those two could be so stubborn sometimes!

"I'm still staying up with you." She informed them.

"Fine." Gaara agreed.

Temari looked over her younger brothers, looking slightly worried ,and asked, "How are you two feeling?"

"Fine, Temari." Kankuro sighed as he rolled his eyes, "I've felt fine for a few days now. Hover over the panda."

"I'm fine!" Gaara insisted.

At this, Temari raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed, "A little sore, but fine."

"I have some pain killers in my backpack," Temari told him, "Do you want some?"

Gaara hesitated a moment. He didn't want to make it seem like he was in a lot of pain and worry his siblings, but pain killers sounded really good right now. Eventually he nodded and Temaari got up to grab her things. She pulled out of her backpack a bottle of asprin and a bottle of water. She handed both to Gaara who took them thankfully.

"Thanks", He said after he took the painkillers. He handed the bottle of watch and bottle of pills back to Temari, who put them back in her bag.

"No problem. Kankuro? Do you need anything? Water, food…" Temari asked.

"I'm good." Kankuro told her.

"Ya sure?"

"Positive."

She sighed, "Alright, just-"

"Let you know if I need anything." Kankuro finished for her, "Got it."

Temari grinned, "Ok, I admit it. I hover too much, but I think I have an excuse to this time."

"You do with Gaara. I'm fine now! 100% poison free!" Kankuro reminded her.

"I still think I have a right to hover." Temari shrugged.

"Even if you didn't think you had a right, you would still hover." Gaara told her, rolling his eyes.

Temari grinned, "You know it. I'm your older sister. It's my job to be protective and take care of you two."

"And we're your little brothers, so doesn't that give us the right to hover over you when you're hurt?" Kankuro asked.

"Sure, but I'm not hurt." Temari reminded both of them, "Unlike you two idiots, I don't pull stupid, life threatening stunts without someone's help.

"The village was in danger, and I'm the Kazekage," Gaara shrugged, "It's my job to protect it no matter what."

"And I wasn't _going_ to go alone. But then some slight issues came up." Kankuro reminded her, "I didn't want to waste time."

"I would've done the same thing." Temari sighed, "Just please, wait for me next time so that I can say I was actually doing something to help instead of hanging out in Konoha-"

"Flirting with Shikamaru?" Kankuro finished for her, grinning.

Temari blushed, "I wasn't! I don't like him!"

Both boys rolled their eyes.

"Sure, Tem." Gaara smirked.

"Oh, just ask him out already." Kankuro joked, "He's probably too lazy to do it himself."

Temari rolled her eyes, "No, for two reasons. 1: I don't think he even likes me back, and 2: you're telling me to ask him out now, but once I actually do start dating him, you two are going to pull the protective brother thing and try to scare him out of even looking at me."

Kankuro chuckled, "While the second part is probably true, I think he likes you back. No worries there."

Gaara nodded, "Even I can tell and I'm bad at that sort of thing."

"Yeah, well, when are you two going to get serious girlfriends?" Temari asked, changing the subject.

Kankuro shrugged, "I don't know. When the right girl comes along, I guess."

Temari turned to Gaara, "And what about you? You need to eventually get married and have little baby Pandas. Your kids would be too cute!"

"No one would want to date a demon," Gaara told them.

"But why would anyone date Shukaku?" Kankuro asked, legitimately confused.

Gaara rolled his eyes, "I meant me, Kankuro."

"But you aren't a demon." Temari stated.

"Yeah," Kankuro agreed, "Besides, have you seen the number of girls bowing at your feet?"

"They wouldn't be 'bowing at my feet' if I wasn't Kazekage." Gaara pointed out.

"How do you know?" Kankuro asked, "You're a powerful ninja, you're the strong, silent type,you have dashingly good looks." He noticed his siblings were giving him strange looks at this point so he explained, "Well, since you're my brother, and I have dashingly good looks, you must as well."

"Yeah." Gaara agreed, "That's one good thing our bastard father gave us."

"How come Temari got lucky and got mom's genes?" Kankuro whined.

"Because if you did, you would end up gender confused like Yashamaru." Temari informed him, "And besides, I did get one thing from the jackass."

"What?" Kankuro asked.

Temari simply pointed to her mass of frizzy hair, which she had let out of the ponytails.

Gaara chuckled slightly, "There's nothing wring with frizzy hair. We've all got it."

"Yeah, but since you two are guys, it looks okay. For me, it just looks like I stuck my finger in an electrical socket." Temari sighed.

"It's not that bad." Gaara insisted.

"Thanks," Temari smiled, "But I still hate it."

Kankuro laughed and ruffled her hair making it even more frizzy then before, "You must embrace your inner frizz demon!"

Temari ran her fingers through her hair, trying to defrizz what she could and asked, "My inner what?"

"Frizz demon." Kankuro explained, "Everybody has an inner demon. You have an inner frizz demon, I have an inner sexy demon, and Gaara-"

"Had Shukaku." Gaara finished for him.

"I was going to say Panda demon, but whatever." Kankuro shrugged.

"Speaking of which, how do you feel?" Temari asked, "Without Shukaku, I mean."

Gaara stayed silent for a moment, before finally saying, "Different."

"In a good or bad way?" Kankuro asked.

"I'm not really sure yet." Gaara answered truthfully, "It's just… different. There's no more screaming in the back of my mind, no more needing to stay awake to keep control, no more ultimate protection…" at that thought, his eyes widened, and his siblings could've sworn he paled slightly, "What is I can't control sand at all anymore?"

"You'll be able to," Temari said confidently.

"How do you know?" Gaara asked.

"If you're so unsure, try it out right now." Kankuro told him.

"I can't." Gaara said, "What happens if I try and nothing happens?"

"Gaara, it'll work. Trust me. But don't try it out now. You're still low on chakra. You'll only end up stressing your body more." Temari told him gently.

Gaara still looked uncertain, "But how do you know it'll work?"

Temari smirked, "Because I'm your older sister and I know everything."

Kankuro snorted, "You? Know everything? Ha!"

Temari glared at him, "Ok, not everything, but can you still please just trust me? If for whatever reason it doesn't work, (and it should) you can fully blame me for it."

"I don't blame you. Why would I/" Gaara asked.

"Because I wasn't there to help you and keep you safe in the first place." Temari answered.

"Tem, even if you had been there, you wouldn't have been able to do anything." Gaara told her.

"How do you know? If I had left Konoha just a little earlier,I could've been there to help Kankuro, keeping him from almost dying, then we both could've made it to you and gotten you out of there before anything could've happened."

"Please don't blame yourself for this." Gaara said, "It is in no way your fault."

"Yeah," Kankuro agreed, "You got here as soon as you could. You would've had to leave Konoha, like, two days earlier to get there in time."

"Exactly," Gaara nodded, "And you were staying in Konoha under my orders. You couldn't have left that early anyways."

"That's not true." Temari told him, "I could've worked faster, getting me back in Suna faster, and been there instead of showing up two damn days too late!"

Temari was starting to get choked up at this point. She tried fighting back tears, but a few managed to slip out and down her face. She wiped them away quickly, hoping her brothers hadn't seen, but they had. Gaara reached forward and gave her a comforting hug.

"Tem, don't blame yourself," Gaara repeated, "It's not your fault."

Kankuro ruffled his sister's hair again and said, "Yeah, sis. If you need to blame someone, blame me for not being strong enough to save him."

"It is neither of your faults," Gaara insisted, "You both did what you could."

"Obviously that wasn't enough." Temari sighed, "God, I feel like the worst sister on the planet."

Before either of her brothers could begin to lecture her for even thinking like that, Gai-sensei stirred. All three siblings froze and held their breath, really hoping he was just moving in his sleep. Unfortunately the energetic jonin sat up and grinned before exclaiming rater ludly, "Good morning Youth!"

Everyone in the camp groaned as they were shaken out of their deep sleep.

"Gai-sensei," Tenten mumbled, "The sun isn't even up yet!"

"Yes it is!" Gai explained, jumping to his feet and pointing to the tiniest sliver of sun in the distance.

"Indeed! The sun is up! Let us pack up and keep moving!" Lee grinned, "I am sure the sand village cannot wait to get their Kazekage back!"

As everyone was groaning and waking themselves up to get ready for the journey ahead, Gaara turned to his siblings, "We'll finish this conversation later."

The other two nodded and began to pack their things, getting ready to head back to Suna.

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A/N: Yay! So there it is! I hope you like it! I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be uploaded. I wish I could, but who knows when I'll get the initiative to type this much again? ^^

I know Deidara isn't technically dead, but at this point, they all think he is, so that's why I said that.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Two in one day! You guys are really lucky! This next chapter is fairly short (especially compared to my last one), so I figured I'd just go ahead and do it. I hope you like the last chapter and I hope you like this chapter as well!

Naruto and Kankuro helped Gaara up and supported him together before they started walking. After the whole group had gotten themselves together and they were well on their way, Lee bounded up to the three and grinned, "Good morning Gaara! And how are you feeling today?"

Gaara gave a small smile, "I'm fine Lee."

"That is wonderful!" Lee exclaimed loudly, I knew your youthful energy would-"

He was cut off by Neji whacking him upside the head, "Lee, calm down. Gaara's probably tired. He doesn't need to deal with your energy this early in the morning."

"It's fine," Gaara told him, "I've been up for a while now anyway."

Neji shrugged, "Alright, whatever. I could've saved you a few minutes silence, but you just ruined it for yourself."

Gaara chuckled, "It's fine. Just think about it: if he uses up all his energy now, he might be quiet the rest of the way there."

Neji rolled his eyes, "We can only hope."

Sakura walked up to the group of boys, "Sorry to interrupt boys, but I need to check up on all of you. How are you all feeling?"

"I'm good." Kankuro grinned.

"Me too!" Naruto agreed.

Sakura glanced at Gaara, who sighed "I'm a little sore, but I'm fine."

Sakura nodded, accepting his answer. She then turned to the other two boys, "Neji? Lee? Any injuries I don't know about?"

When both of them shook their heads, she grinned, "Good. Well, Gaara, Kankuro, and Naruto, I'll do a more thorough checkup when we get back to Suna."

"What about you Sakura? Are you doing alright?" Naruto asked.

"Yep!" She grinned, "I've basically healed everything by now. There's nothing you boys have to worry about except yourselves. Just focus on getting better soon."

"What did happen to you exactly?" Gaara asked, "No one told me the details."

"While I was fighting Sasori, he managed to run me through with a poisoned sword." She explained, "We had brought the antidote with us in case we ran into a problem, so the poison didn't have any effect. I also healed most of the wound myself and Elder Chiyo healed the rest."

"You were run through? Where?" TenTen asked from behind the group of guys.

Sakura turned around and pointed to the spot where the sword went through.

"Damn! It's a miracle you lived!" TenTen exclaimed.

"It's fine now!" Sakura grinned, "There's nothing to worry about anymore!"

TenTen walked up to Neji and smacked him upside the head.

"What the hell was that for?" Neji asked, glaring at her.

"When you got run through, you were complaining and mopey for weeks after you were healed! Hell, sometimes you still use it as an excuse!"

"I do not!" Neji exclaimed, "And it was a bad injury!"

"Sakura was run through with a poisoned blade the probably hit vital organs and she's all perky and taking care of other people. You sat in bed and complained about 'fate' this and 'destiny' that! Your shoulder was run through. After the medic-nins fixed you all up, you could've gone back to everyday activities!"

"It still hurt!" Neji defended himself.

"Uh-huh," TenTen said breaking into a grin to make sure he knew she was just teasing, "You are such a baby." She then turned to Sakura, "Are you sure you're ok? Should you be resting or something?"

"I will when we get to Suna," Sakura assured her, "But I still need to check them over."

"You could just let the Suna medics take care of us." Kankuro suggested.

"Yeah, they may not be the best, but they can do a simple checkup." Gaara stated.

I know, but it would make me feel better if I was the one doing the check-ups." Sakura told them.

"Sakura, you probably should just let the Suna medics do it." Naruto insisted, " You need your rest and-"

Sakura glared at him, "Oh no. I definitely want to check you over, so as soon as I know you're alright, I can beat the living shit out of you. I would like to say the same to Gaara, but I don't even need to do a checkup to know he's not in good shape."

"I'm fine!" Gaara insisted.

"Yeah, bullshit." Sakura commented, "Gaara, you died.

"But I'm alive now, so we're all good." Gaara stated.

"You can argue this point with me all you want, but you're still getting checked over and most likely put on some kind of medication." Sakura told him.

"Great." Gaara groaned.

"We aren't far from Suna." Kankuro stated suddenly, "We should be there soon, and then you can check over everyone and get it over with."

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Baki ran through the empy village towards the gates where everyone was waiting for the Kazekage's return. He had sent the squads out yesterday to find him and there had been no word yet. He made it to the gates and pushed his way to the front. He scanned the horizon but saw no signs of his former students or any of the other squads he sent out.

"Still no sign?" He called out to one of the men he had posted up on the wall.

"It should be any moment now!" The man called back.

Baki looked back out towards the direction he hoped his students would be coming from. Suddenly, he saw a small dot on the horizon. That dot got gradually larger until he could make out the figures of Naruto and Kankuro supporting a still-breathing Gaara. He felt relief wash over him and grinned, "Gaara!"

All of Suna exploded with cheers and those who were able rushed out to greet their Kazekage.

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As the group approached Suna, they heard the loud cheers. At first, everyone was a little confused, (especially Gaara), but soon, everyone was grinning when they realized who the cheers were for.

"That's some homecoming." Kankuro grinned.

"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw all the people cheering and rushing to greet Garra.

"There is so many people!" Lee commented.

"That's what I'd expect for the Kazekage." Neji shrugged.

"Yeah." TenTen agreed.

Eventually the crowd met them and Baki once again had to push his way to the front.

"I'm glad you're safe," he told Gaara .

_Yeah, I bet you are._ Temari thought angrily to herself. _You didn't even go looking for him with the rest of us._

Gaara nodded, "Thanks to everyone here."

Baki then turned to Naruto, "Uzumaki Naruto, I thank you."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I wasn't- I didn't really do anything."

Baki smiled and turned back to Gaara, "Kazekage-sama, everyone from the village is waiting." As the crowd parted to clear a path for the Kazekage and the rescue party, Baki motioned them forward, "Please, go ahead."

Kankuro glanced down at his brother, "Ready to go?"

Naruto and Kankuro began to start walking, but Gaara stopped them, "Wait. Put her first."

Everybody turned towards where Sakura and some other Suna ninjas carried Elder Chiyo

S body.

"That's right," Temari said quietly. She had almost forgotten about Elder Chiyo in all the excitement.

"Pay your last respects to Elder Chiyo!" Baki called to the crowd, "Pray silently!"

Everybody closed their eyes and bowed their heads silently as Elder Chiyo's body was brought into the village.

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A/N- so there's the next chapter. If I have time tomorrow, I may update House 3313 and post another story I've been meaning to post for a while, so hopefully whoever's reading this will go check those out too! Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it! I'll post more in this story (hopefully) soon.


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